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Thursday, October 25, 2012

Review of "Red Mars" by Kim Stanley Robinson

Mars has been a subject of science fiction since before the
genre became a fixture:Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles, Philip K. Dick’s
The Martian Time-slip, Edgar Rice
Burrough’s The Princess of Mars
series, Arthur C. Clarke’s The Sands of
Mars, C.S. Lewis’s Space trilogy, Ben Bova's Mars, and many others have in one way or another
imagined what life might be like on our neighboring globe.Representing more than a decade of research and reading on the subject, Kim Stanley Robinson's 1994 Red Mars is an elaborate work that just may set the bar Mars
colonization novels.

As is to be expected, Red Mars begins with the planet as a wasteland
and moves toward colonization—a very human version, at that.The main characters are introduced on the nine-month space flight from Earth, inter-group tensions set, and then turned loose
on the cold, arid desert.The book
divided into eight sections, a main character is the focus of each, making the
novel a surprisingly character-centered work despite the large amount of
technical and scientific information included and developed.John Boone is an experienced astronaut—the first to land on Mars, in
fact—and is the expedition’s leader.Frank Howard is the second in command and secretly harbors feelings of
jealousy regarding not only John’s position of power, but also his charisma and
people skills.Nadia is a tough female
engineer, doing her best with the tools at her disposal to build the
infrastructure and facilities they need to live.Hiroko is an intelligent but unique-minded biologist
with ideas of her own (to say the least) regarding how society should function socially.Not the only rebel, Arkady is an architect
and planner with ideas even more radical regarding the structure and
interaction of people, science, and government on the planet.Through these and a handful of other main
characters Robinson weaves his highly scientific yet intriguingly human tale.

But where Robinson really earns his pay in Red Mars is with the wealth of
information stuffed between the covers.A
blurred combination, many of the ideas in the novel come from empirical
science, e.g. the astrophysics, geography, climactic aspects of Mars, while
others are more futuristic science (i.e. pseudo science) in nature, e.g. advances in micro-biology,
gerontology, terraforming, telecommunications, physiognomy, and others.There are a few which really stretch the
limits of scientific plausibility (e.g. the robotics, material engineering, etc.), but on
the whole the story is firmly grounded in hard science.Readers will undoubtedly walk away from the
book with a better visualization and understanding of the realities of the red
planet—Robinson’s intent seemingly to educate as much as entertain.

Problems, there are a few.Perhaps falling victim to an editor’s desire
to make the story more “interesting”, Red
Mars opens with a brief but exciting scene cut from the heart of the
story.Obviously intended to be a hook,
what follows this opening scene is the beginning of the story from a time
perspective: the group leaving Earth.One of the major characters killed in this opening scene, knowing what
happens to them later, and more importantly, knowing what state of development
Mars comes to when this person is killed, smothers the suspense of discovering
whether the 100 colonists will make Mars livable.By introducing Mars as an inhabited planet
with detailed infrastructure, then reverting the scene to the wasteland of their
arrival eliminates the surprise of knowing what shape the group's efforts will
come to.In short there is nothing to
keep the reader guessing what their version of civilization becomes.

Another problem, albeit smaller, is story
orientation.Several of the sections are
well-developed, particularly Nadia, Michel, and Ann’s.John and Frank’s, however, are either melodramatic
or wander off the plot’s target.John
spends his time driving numerous places, doing little to solve the mystery he’s
been assigned.Frank likewise moves
numerous places to no avail, the plot progressing for reasons other than his
peripatetic maneuvers.Had Robinson involved
these characters with goals more closely linked to the larger objective, their
actions would have felt more natural, rather than the figureheads they appear, moving
from place to place just to introduce readers to some new aspect of the
planet.That being said, the author does
align his pieces properly and events climax in grand fashion, suiting the story
he built. Of the three Mars books, Red Mars is the most "action-packed".

In the end, Red
Mars is a hard science fiction look at colonization on Mars salted with mainstream
plot devices to liven the story.Readers
looking for fast paced action would do best to avoid it, while those who are interested in matters geological, biological, and ecological and speculation on planet-scale terraforming
and colonization should run to buy this character-driven story.The structure of the novel may have some
faults and the prose be nothing spectacular, but the research and immensity of the scope of
ideas Robinson has embedded into the story make reading the book
worthwhile.Fans of the hard science
guys like Arthur C. Clarke and Ben Bova, soft sci-fi like Ursula Le Guin or Robert Silverberg, as well as Robinson’s other work will
enjoy the novel.Though their settings and
time frames are different, Brian Aldiss’ Helliconia
features elements strongly in common, particularly regarding the evolution of
man as a group.While Aldiss approaches
humanity from a more seminal point of view, fans of the author may still be
interested.

(For those curious about the Mars series as a whole, one thing is for sure: it develops consistently. From Red Mars, to Green Mars to Blue Mars, Robinson's years of research into the potential for colonizing and terraforming the red planet is reflected on every page. The majority of dialogue and commentary is shunted toward scientific and socio-political matters, while natural points of tension amongst the viewpoints arise to buoy the story. Red Mars is the most "action oriented", while Green and Blue dig progressively deeper into Robinson's agenda. A grand thought experiment stretched across nearly 2,000 pages, the books are worthwhile for anyone who thinks on a grand scale and is curious to see a relatively realistic portrayal of what human colonization of the red planet might be like.)

I'm at a small debate with myself whether to jump into the remaining two books in the Mars trilogy, or read them as desire dictates. What do you think? Is there value in jumping right into the remaining books?